Transcontinental Railroad and the Promontory Summit
Thesis: Using a cheap labor force, the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. Railroads were a key factor in imperialism, allowing easy transportation for raw materials, finished products and troop movements. Transcontinental Railroad:
Railroad system that branches out all over America and connects the east and west coast
Two companies worked on it, Central Pacific, starting in California, and Union Pacific, starting in Nebraska
Worked on mostly by Chinese immigrants who had come for the Califonia Gold Rush and had been unsuccessful
Promontory Point:
In Utah, the point where both railroad companies joined to complete the Transcontinental railroad
Connected by a golden spike, driven in by Stanford, now displayed in Stanford University
Significance:
Allowed easy travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts
Original means of travel by caravan took 6 months or more. Railroad shortened travel to one week
Effective means of transporting natural resources and raw materials from Pacific to Atlantic and transporting finished goods from Atlantic to Pacific
Thesis: Using a cheap labor force, the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. Railroads were a key factor in imperialism, allowing easy transportation for raw materials, finished products and troop movements.
Transcontinental Railroad:
Promontory Point:
Significance: